The centre will be tasked with exploring blockchain’s potential for the government, Chinese citizens and industries

The firm - founded by Australian videogaming entrepreneurs - said the funding was backed by Liberty City Ventures and Kingsway Capital

The firm had raised $40 million in its previous round, a year earlier. The cryptocurrency lender and asset manager is now valued at $2 billion.

Founded in 2013, Opn offers a digital payment system to merchants, enterprises, and financial institutions in Japan and Southeast Asia using blockchain

China has been working on a service network that enables the deployment of blockchain technology for businesses, notably those operating cloud computing infrastructure, the report says

The SPAC plans to invest in Web3, blockchain, cryptocurrency, digital ledger, e-gaming and other new financial technology and services industries

Shanghai residents are turning to NFT marketplaces like the world's largest, OpenSea, where users can mint content and buy or sell it using cryptocurrencies

Asia is the frontrunner in the NFTs craze with Central and Southeast Asia accounting for 35% of the $22 billion in global trade

Other investors include Hong Kong's Huobi Ventures as well as Shima Capital, Malaysia's OKX Blockdream Ventures, Mechanism Capital and Morningstar Ventures

Industry says tax will dent crypto trading volumes and drive small traders towards informal person-to-person trading and decentralised exchanges

Some even believe crypto and underlying blockchain architecture will set off a new wave of financial innovation

The move is expected to generate additional revenue for Renewables Distributed Generation for Asia to develop solar assets